The average salary follows inflation in Quebec

The average hourly wage does indeed follow inflation, having increased by 8.1% in July when the consumer price index (CPI) jumped by 7.3% in Quebec, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada .

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These figures are considerably higher than those of Ontario (4.9%) and the Canadian average (5.2%).

This increase takes into account all wages in Canada, reported on an overall average.

Many, however, saw their salary unchanged, while purchasing power decreased for others.

“Even if the average salary has increased in nominal terms in line with inflation, there is at least 40% of the population for whom this is not the case. There is a good part for whom the purchasing power has decreased,” added a professor of economics from the University of Quebec in Montreal, Philippe Goulet-Coulombe.

One of the factors that explain this increase is the particularly low unemployment rate, which stands at 4.2% in Quebec as well as in Bas-Saint-Laurent.

The aging of the population has also contributed enormously to these rates.

Employee power has also diminished, giving way to greater wage increases.

In Quebec, 250,000 positions are vacant, and 60% of these positions require a high school diploma or less, while the labor market represents mostly people with a postsecondary diploma or a university degree, explains the economist of the Institut du Québec, Simon Savard.

“We are in a situation where few people can work. It can create a brake on the economy, while creating inflation [sur laquelle] central banks must act”, mentioned the professor.